Highest is Heaven
by Taken-Names-Are-Awful
Summary: In the grim future of the 41st Millennium, there is only war. But on a forgotten planet far away from the Imperium of Man, two sisters with origins far grander than can be imagined may yet save humanity from destruction. Unbeknownst to them, they are Primarchs, the gene-forged children of the God-Emperor of Mankind. But to the rest of Remnant, they are Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao-Long
1. Chapter 1

Synopsis: In the grim future of the 41st Millennium, there is only war. But on one forgotten planet far away from the reach of the Imperium of Man, two sisters with origins far grander than can be imagined may yet save humanity from destruction. Unbeknownst to them, they are Primarchs, the gene-forged children of the God-Emperor of Mankind. But to the rest of Remnant, they are Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao-Long.

* * *

AN: Oh boy, here we go again. I know many of you are waiting for updates on my other fic, and rest assured that me starting this new one is not meant to be a signal of abandonment. Rather, it is meant to be a useful fulcrum, if you will. If I get stuck on one story, writing on the other one for a while should help me to regain traction on the other.

Even thinking about writing this story was enough to help me push out an update on the other, so…I think that following the urge to write more, instead of repressing it and stewing in a writer's block might end up being more productive on average, even if I am in-theory splitting up my theoretical writing potential. We shall see!

As to any sort of schedule for posts, I would imagine that on average, updates to this story will take longer to make, with the size of each update correspondingly longer. Greek Tragedy will be more episodic, while this will be more all-encompassing. Do not expect this to be done any time soon. I have _plans._

Anyway, enjoy, review, comment, etc.

* * *

To begin to unravel the threads of time, one must understand the grand scope of events.

Time loses meaning, if it has no context. A frame of reference is required to truly understand the what-was, the what-is, and what-will-be.

For the countless trillions of humans who called the galaxy home, it was a time of cruel and bloody oppression by uncaring oligarchs, and theocratic dictators.

It was a time of incredible ignorance and superstition, with the promise of technological progress having long since been abandoned, and so much knowledge lost.

It was a time of unending carnage, and slaughter, fueled by the whims of the monstrous Dark Gods, the arcane plots of treacherous xenos, and the grim callousness of humanity's defenders.

It was the Forty First Millennium.

For over ten thousand years, the forces of the Imperium of Man have stood against the depravations of Aliens, Heretics, and Mutants alike. The God-Emperor of Mankind rules from the Golden Throne of Terra, a Psyker of unparalleled power turned to bone and mummified skin after a cataclysmic battle that put an end to a war that sundered the forces of humanity in two.

On each side of this civil war, were eighteen of the Emperor's children, the Primarchs. Horus Lupercal, Warmaster of the Imperium, led the Traitor Legions in rebellion, submitting to the Chaos Gods in an act of unforgivable treachery. Half of the brothers followed him down this path of Heresy. The other half remained loyal to their father's vision and rallied the defenders of the Imperium against their blasphemous brethren.

It is a well-known story. Eighteen brothers clashed for seven long years over the fate of all that was. But there was one thing subtly wrong with this picture; two, actually.

When the Emperor first created the Primarchs deep in a secret laboratory buried underneath the earth, weaving science and Warpcraft together to create engineered super-beings, he created not eighteen Primarchs, but twenty.

At the time of the Horus Heresy, the two missing Primarchs and their genetic-offspring had long been the subject of censorship. All records and evidence of the identities of these two Primarchs and their associated Legions were destroyed.

But there is a simple truth as to why there is no information on these Primarchs; By the time of the Horus Heresy, they had not been found.

Considering that all the other Primarchs had been found and re-united with their Legions, with the Great Crusade spanning most of Humanity's known expansion during the Dark Age of Technology, it was disconcerting that these two in particular remained unknown.

All the considerable efforts of parties interested in the fate of the Primarchs turned up nothing. No manner of scrying, nor daemonic meddling, nor casting of runes could divine their location.

As to the Legions of the missing Primarchs, there lay an important secret. When the Emperor of Mankind went to create the Legiones Astartes, he discovered something that even he had overlooked when gene-editing those two Primarchs. A simple, chance drifting of DNA that rendered their genetic code useless for the purposes of the Space Marines.

The Emperor had created the Primarchs to be His twenty sons. He had never entertained the idea of having daughters as well. Yet there, in the drifting strands of DNA left over from their original templates, lay the crucial chromosomal difference that proved it.

At a loss, the Emperor repurposed the most 'tame' genetic code the Primarchs had to offer – that of Roboute Gulliman's - to create the II and XI Legions. He did this in a distant hope that, perhaps, he might be able to make use of these aberrant female Primarchs.

But when they were never found, and the pressing needs of the conflicts to come meant that both Legions were silently folded into the Legion of their gene-father, the Ultramarines.

With no sign of his two missing daughters, the Emperor presumed them dead. Perhaps they simply had the misfortune to be cast onto inhospitable worlds. Perhaps they were dead due to any number of myriad genetic defects that might have arisen because of their unique mutation. Or perhaps the Warp had claimed them forever, never to reappear.

It was a regrettable loss, but in the chaos of the Horus Heresy and the events to come, the two missing Primarchs were simply deemed irrelevant, and were forgotten.

With ten thousand years of intervening history, it is not a surprise that all but the most dedicated of fanatics gave up the search for the Primarchs. But it was not their fate to find the Primarchs. Rather, the Primarchs would eventually find the rest of the galaxy.

Indeed, for ten thousand years their gestation pods remained in the Warp, carried along currents and eddies, more than once coming close to destruction by the terrors that lurked therein. But whether it was fate, or the sigils of protection the Emperor wove into their pods, the two remained unharmed. Until one day, they reached the extreme edges of Warp, where even the most anguished cries of damned souls died down into nothingness.

And there, far away from the light of the Astronomican, and the screaming hell-maw of the Eye of Terror, a small pool of peace was found.

With a whisper, the first pod transitioned into Realspace. It hung in orbit over the planet, just one more silver fragment among the shattered remains of the world's moon.

Then, the forces of gravity resumed their pull, and the capsule began a screaming descent towards the earth. Within minutes, it was a fireball, a newborn star in the night sky that hurtled toward a small island off the coast of one of the main continents.

* * *

Taiyang Xiao-Long closed his eyes as he took another sip of his beer, relishing the slight burning in his throat. Next to him, he was hyper-aware of the presence of Raven Branwen, who was a little bit closer to him than might have been strictly friendly. At times, her ease at his presence was the only indication that the two of them were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Raven was, at the best of times, a prickly character. She wasn't one for public displays of affection, nor was she inclined to be trusting of others. But beneath every sneer, every scowl, there was something there that Taiyang saw that made him doubt her detachment.

Maybe it wasn't smart, but the little hints of kindness he saw every now and again had him looking for more. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, blood - seriously, how many times had she broken his nose? – but now they were…something. She didn't like putting a name to it, but that didn't stop him from being pleased with himself, even when Raven took him down a notch.

Opening his eyes, he looked across to the other two members of his team. Qrow was nursing a drink of his own, on his third of the night, but not going over the top as he sometimes did. Their get-together outside of Taiyang's new home was meant to be a celebration, just the four members of Team STRQ.

Summer meanwhile looked amused at something. Her lips were quirked in a smile, the small fire they had going casting flickering shadows along her face.

Taiyang was wary, eyes flickering to look at Raven for a moment, who was also giving their leader a look of scrutiny. But the moment passed without incident, and the two of them instead returned to quietly sipping their drinks, enjoying the peaceful company, and the cool air of the night.

They should have known better than to lower their guard. With great relish, Summer broke the silence just as Taiyang and Raven both had their drinks tipped back. "So…" She drawled, silver eyes sparkling with mischief. "With the new house, you two must be planning on making me an aunt soon, right?"

The spurt of alcohol that erupted from Taiyang's mouth was nothing short of legendary. Raven wasn't far behind him in that department though, coughing and sputtering as the burning alcohol went down every airway it shouldn't have.

Summer was laughing hysterically, doubled over in laughter at their reaction, while poor Qrow looked torn between wanting to join Summer in laughing, or horrified at the idea of his sister having offspring with his best friend.

"That's not funny!" Raven rasped, finally recovering enough to shoot the wheezing Summer a look of pure murder. "Stop laughing, you bitch!" Raven demanded, reaching for her sword menacingly. Summer managed to recover for a moment, looking up at Raven with a serious expression on her face.

That moment of dead silence was promptly ruined as she began to laugh again, unable to stop herself. Whereas Raven might have made good on her threat once, she instead deflated, sighing in resignation. "I can't win." She murmured, leaning into Taiyang's side.

Taiyang could feel his face heating up, and cleared his throat, looking at Summer with about as a stern expression as he could manage. "You know as well as I do we haven't even thought that far ahead yet."

It was true, too. Kids? With _Raven_? The very thought did things to his insides that he couldn't even begin to parse through. They were serious, sure, but they were taking things one day at a time. Taiyang knew he _wanted_ kids, but that was a nebulous proposition at best. To actually intend to have them, to go through with it…that was something else.

Summer finally calmed down, fixing them both with a warm smile. "I know. I'm just so excited for the two of you!" The enthusiasm in her voice was infectious, warming him more than the fire ever could.

Taiyang couldn't stay anything remotely resembling mad at Summer, no matter how hard he tried. He settled for turning his gaze skyward, trying to hide the faint blush still on his cheeks. "We know, Summer, we know."

He had bought a plot of land far out from the nearest town on Patch. With the help of team STRQ, he had built the house with his own two hands, creating his own little private homestead out in the wilderness. It was a peaceful place, one that he was lucky enough to own.

This far out from the nearest town, you didn't have to deal with light pollution. The moon hung above in the night sky, a cluster of silvery fragments framed by the largest part of it still intact. The stars were a glittering field of diamonds, each one promising things unknown to anyone who lived on Remnant.

One by one, each member of the team turned their heads skyward, joining Taiyang in observing the sky. "Sure is beautiful." Qrow said, sounding a bit wistful as he examined the sky with uncanny observation. Out of anyone of the team, he had the best eyes by far.

Raven huffed in derision. "You always were one to have your head in the clouds, brother." She said but didn't refute him entirely.

They remained like that for maybe a minute more, the fire crackling between them, before Raven finally rose from the log they had been sitting on. "It's late, and we're out of booze out here. I'm going inside."

Summer rose too, cloak fluttering in the gentle sea breeze. "Yeah, I'm turning in too. I have to be back in Vale tomorrow. Another team requested a replacement member for a mission." She said diplomatically, giving both boys a nod in turn as she followed Raven back into the house.

Qrow squinted a bit at something Taiyang couldn't see and sighed. "I'll be in in a bit. Don't let Raven drink everything on me now."

That wasn't likely, given the amount of alcohol Taiyang had stocked up on, but stranger things had happened.

Standing up, he made his way over and clapped Qrow on the back. "Sure thing, man. You want me to bring anything back for you?"

Qrow opened his mouth to reply but paused, eyes narrowing in concentration. "Hey Tai." He finally said slowly. "You see anything up there?" He asked, pointing upwards.

Taiyang's brow furrowed, looking back up at the night sky. It was certainly more vivid than usually, but he couldn't see anything that would have made Qrow look back.

"I don't see anything." He said finally, chuckling as he started to walk back, casually calling over his shoulder. "You turning into a lightweight on me, Qrow? What would Glynda say if she heard you were seeing things at only 3 beers i- "

"Holy shit Tai! Look!" Qrow said, jumping up from where he was at, frantically gesturing at something he saw.

Incredulous, Taiyang looked back once more. Concentrating, he searched through the field of inky darkness once more before he finally saw it. A star, brighter than the rest, moving across the sky.

"A shooting star? Good eyes, Qrow. Should have put a sniper rifle instead of a shotgun in that fancy scythe of yours." He said appreciatively, before turning his head away to yell back into the house. "Raven, Summer! Get back out here, there's a shooting star!"

He glanced back at Qrow, looking at his friend's nearly slack-jawed expression. Sure, it was a cool thing, but it wasn't that awe-inspiring.

"Qrow? Hey, what's got you so…" Tai began, trailing off as he looked back up in the night sky.

It wasn't a shooting star.

The blazing white orb in the sky became tinted with flecks of red, and a dull noise could be heard from the object. It was falling, falling towards them. Fast.

Raven and Summer made their way back outside, the two of them staring at the object that was cutting a bloody swath through the night. "What the hell…" Raven said, dark eyes wide, while Summer could only stare, her lips parted in a look of awe.

The object grew in size, the noise going from a dull roar, to a shrieking cacophony unlike anything Taiyang had heard before.

But soon, it rapidly gained in size, and Taiyang dimly realized that it was heading straight for his house. "Oh, _fuck._ " He breathed. "Move! It's going to hit us!" He screamed, breaking everyone out of their trance.

There was no time to really move out of the way of the fireball howling through the air toward them. All they could do was drop to the ground, lying flat on the tall grass. Taiyang could feel the searing heat wash over his back. But his new abode did not spectacularly explode. Instead, it flew a few dozen feet over the top of it, lancing through the tree line behind his property.

 _Cra-Cra-BOOM!_

It sounded like a herd of Goliaths rampaging through a town, so tortured was the sound of the impact.

Then, silence.

After a few long moments, Taiyang stood up on shaking knees, breathing deeply as the adrenaline drained from his system. "Is everyone okay?" He croaked, watching as everyone else got up. Qrow was blinking owlishly, Summer looked uncharacteristically serious, and Raven had a scowl on her face that was mixed with trace amounts of fear.

"Boys…" Summer said slowly, looking between Tai and Qrow. "We leave you alone for two seconds, and the sky starts falling. Explain."

"What, you think I caused this?" Qrow cried, gesturing wildly. "Give me a break, Summer, even my semblance can't do something like this!"

"Why are we still standing here? We should see what the hell that was, and make sure the forest isn't going to burn to the ground." Everyone turned at once to stare at Raven.

"Since when are you the voice of reason? Who are you, and what did you do with my sister?" Qrow said with over-the-top suspicion dripping from every word, eyes narrowed as he examined his sibling.

Raven coughed, hiding her embarrassment in a way that nearly made Taiyang break out laughing. "It's pragmatic. I'd rather not have to rebuild this dumb house. And, I have to say…I'm curious."

Summer nodded slowly, gesturing for everyone to gather around her. "She is right. We have no idea what just hit the forest. Probably a meteor or something, but it could pose a danger if it lit enough trees on fire. Let's go."

The team snapped into mission mode at her command…which wasn't much different than their regular state of being, only they were ready to shoot at things.

Taiyang and Qrow took point, with Raven in the middle and Summer in the back, as they took off in a jog towards the back of the house.

Qrow was the first to react to the sight, letting out a low whistle. "Now if my semblance could do _that_ , it might not be so bad."

It looked like someone had taken an Ursa, lit it on fire, and bitch-slapped it with a mountain. Dozens of trees were downed in the wake of the crash. The ones closest to the path of the object were charcoal, while the ones on the outside were smoldering, some outright on fire, but not enough to truly cause damage.

"You could put a golf course back here now, Tai." Qrow drawled, starting to regain some of his confidence as the team picked a careful path through the debris.

"He just didn't want you to have a place you could perch." Raven fired back smoothly, causing Tai to snort in amusement, while Qrow shot him a wounded look.

"Traitor." He said darkly, choosing to drop the line of banter as they focused on trying not to step on burning patches of embers.

It took several minutes of walking for them to get close, but finally, they saw signs of the object hitting the ground. Skid marks, like a giant's footprints marked the way forward.

The tree line thinned, as they approached a clearing in the forest. Taiyang coughed, the soot in the air proving to be a nuisance as they staggered out of the woods. What they saw at the sight of the impact had them all bewildered.

A slender, metallic object was half-buried in the earth, the grass scorched from the point of impact. It was not a meteor, or anything they recognized at all. They made their way closer, more details becoming apparent as they did so. The crater was deep, but the object itself seemed to be missing no parts. The metal was a dull gray, unmarked, save for two symbols painted on the surface in soot-stained white.

"XI"

"Think its military? Maybe some kind of Atlas weapon test?" Raven said finally as they all stood before the object in a line, trying to make heads or tails of it.

"Could be…" Taiyang said slowly, steeling himself as he activated his semblance, pale blue light engulfing his form. Out of all them there, he was best suited to this sort of thing. His semblance allowed him to become tougher and more resistant to damage, growing stronger as time went on, rather than growing weaker like Aura.

A sort of adaptive defense mechanism, in this case it allowed him to brush a thumb up against the scorching hot metal with only a slight burn on his skin for his trouble.

The dirt came away from part of it, revealing an opaque glass underneath. Crouching, he wiped away more, and peered through it.

He did a visible double take, causing his friends to look at him with worried expressions.

He started stuttering, clearly unable to get the words out, and Raven went over and started shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to make sense as he started babbling. "Tai, Tai! Snap out of it, you're not making sense. What is it?" She said, rare concern coloring her voice.

Finally, he managed to take a deep breath, as he repeated himself. "There's a _baby_ in that thing."

* * *

At first, they tried to move it themselves, but only succeeded in getting it out of the ground and burning the shit out of Qrow's hands.

Summer, fastest out of all of them, managed to come back with Raven's motorcycle, and they hitched it to the back of that with some repurposed chains from Taiyang's own workshop. From there, they managed to slowly tow it back to his workshop. With each step they took, his heart sank.

From everything he could tell, the baby inside wasn't moving, or making any noise. He couldn't make out many details, other than it was infant sized, and curled up inside the machine. He was largely just assuming it was a baby, but what else could it be? An alien? Even he wasn't willing to go that far with his theories.

None of this made any damn sense though. Who the hell would put a baby inside a pod like that? It was probably already dead, if not from deprivation of air, then from the force of the impact. He also doubted that he could shatter the glass, and even if he _could_ , he risked harming whatever was inside. So instead, he swallowed his impatience, and did the smart thing.

Grimly, they finally managed to haul the pod inside, and they rolled it into a proper position. Getting a cloth, Taiyang wiped away all the debris, so they could see what they were looking at.

It was clearly a machine, not some hunk of metal. There was a small keypad depressed into the side of the lid. It was seamless, with no clear way to wedge anything to try and force the reinforced hinge up.

That symbol, the "XI", was painted on both the front, sides, and back of the pod, for whatever reason. Taiyang dimly recalled it was part of some sort of archaic number system, but that was it.

"So, what do we do?" Qrow asked finally, staring down at the small, obscure form within it.

"We open it." Summer said firmly, with a steel in her voice that made everyone take notice. "Either it's alive, and doesn't have much time…or…" She couldn't finish her words, choking up a bit. But everyone knew what she meant.

"I guess I'll do the honors." Taiyang said hollowly, knowing that he would probably find. "My workshop, after all." He said weakly, before pressing on the largest button on the pod, hoping against all hope.

The hiss of escaping air made them all jump, as the device whirred. For several long, torturous moments, it did nothing but make noise.

Then, finally, the pod opened and they all stared in wonder at what lay inside.

The baby appeared unharmed, recessed into a gel-like contoured interior. A metal mask concealed part of its face, while another wrapped around the bottom. With little fanfare, these parts retracted, revealing unblemished skin. From what they all could tell, it appeared to be a girl. A perfectly normal, healthy baby girl.

Taiyang reached out with trembling hands, with great tenderness taking the child into his arms. It was breathing steadily, deeply, with cheeks steadily growing red as it adjusted to its new environment. A single tuft of blonde hair crowned her head, a few shades lighter than Taiyang's own.

Everyone gathered close around him, unable to stop themselves from looking at her with undisguised awe. That feeling only magnified when the child opened her eyes. And what eyes they were, unlike any shade Taiyang had seen before. Lilac orbs, filled with glorious life and promise gazed back at him.

Then, the child did what any child would do in this sort of situation, and started to wail. Loudly.

Thus, it followed that Team STRQ did what any responsible adults would do in this situation and started to wail. Loudly.

To be fair to them, those loud noises consisted mostly of "What do we do!?" "Shut up!" "Quick, blankets, no, milk!", rather than the baby's incoherent cries. But they weren't much of a step up.

Taiyang frantically tried to sooth the child, rocking it back and forth, to no avail. It was more of an arm-swinging than a truly relaxing tempo, which didn't really help matters.

"Qrow, go inside, get milk! She must be hungry!" Summer snapped, her anger scaring Qrow into action enough to make him stumble out of the small shed.

"Hungry? She just fell out of the sky, she's probably scared out of her mind!" Raven retorted, looking at the inconsolable baby in Taiyang's arms, thrusting out her arms in a clear demand.

As though she were made of glass, Taiyang handed her over, watching in a daze as Raven began to slowly rock back and forth, gently humming some sort of tune. It took a while, but finally the child began to calm down, starting to snooze in her arms.

Even Summer couldn't believe what she saw. "Since when could you do that?" She said slowly, eyebrow raised at her team mate.

Raven pursed her lips, a fierce blush on her cheeks. "…back home, older kids would take care of the younger. Breath a _word_ to anyone, and I will personally make a new war-mask from your _face._ "

Taiyang's and Summer's hasty nods were made just in time, for Qrow returned with a glass of milk, and a six pack of beer.

"The hell, Qrow?" At Taiyang's query, the lanky boy gave a shaky laugh. "Hey man, it's been a rough day. Figured we could all use a little something right about now."

Just as he was about to pull a can out of the pack, an arctic tone froze him in his tracks.

"No."

It was not Raven who had uttered those words with such venom, but _Summer_. Summer, who never had an unkind word to say about anyone. Everyone held their breath as Qrow stared at his team leader. "Look, Summer, it's not a big dea-"

"We have a _child_ in our care that fell from the _fucking sky_. A _baby_." She said slowly, with excruciating exactness. "We need to be thinking about this clearly, and _sober_." Those silver eyes of hers were frozen sheets of ice that bored holes into her friend, until finally Qrow placed the six-pack on the ground, and pushed it with his foot off to the side.

"Alright." He said, gulping, his eyes more than a bit bloodshot from the drinks he already had, and the mixture of humiliation and shame he was feeling. He sighed deeply, smacking his face a few times to wake himself up more, running a hand through his messy hair. "Ozpin. We need to call Ozpin."

No one could think of a good objection to that, although Raven looked less than happy with that prospect.

"Right. Qrow, you get on the phone. Raven, you and I will go to town, see if we can't get some stuff for the baby." At Raven's look, Summer smiled sheepishly, running a hand through her shaggy crimson tipped locks. "You have the motorbike."

Grumbling about the abuse her bike was being put through, Raven handed off the sleeping child back to Taiyang, who looked terrified at the prospect of having responsibility for it again. "Grow up." She said with a half-exasperated affection, before hopping on the bike, Summer following suit. "I can't believe I'm leaving you two in charge of that kid, but I know you're too scared of me to fuck it up. So don't." Raven said, smirking good naturedly before taking off into the night, leaving Qrow and Taiyang alone.

Qrow and Taiyang both looked at each other, then looked at the baby. "Look, if she has to go, you're the one cleaning her up." Qrow said, eyeing the girl in Taiyang's arms as though she were a Deathstalker.

Taiyang gave him a deadpan look. "Thanks, buddy."

* * *

They moved everything to Taiyang's house, except for the capsule. They tried to swaddle the child, but really created a misshapen blanket cocoon with a little head poking out. Deciding it was good enough, they instead focused on trying to make sure they had everything laid out properly for the child. Well, what little there was.

Qrow eventually wandered off to call Ozpin, not looking forward to explaining that he was waking him up in the middle of the night for what he was already calling "one really kickass delivery from the Stork".

That left the two blondes along with one another, one steadily sleeping and the other doing his best to not nod off from the exhaustion of the day's events. But eventually he did, only to jerk awake as his head dipped low from his place on the couch, next to the baby.

He found himself staring into a pair of curious lavender eyes, which were staring at him with an intent seriousness far too severe for a child as young as this baby was.

Taiyang watched as the child's mouth then began to part, cheeks twisting into a chubby little smile. He saw the bundle of blankets shift, tiny limbs attempting to squirm about. The little girl gurgled happily at Taiyang, with an expression more joyous than anything else he had ever seen in his life. In that moment alone, she won his heart ten times over.

He heard the front door finally swing open, the familiar sounds of his team bickering like so much comforting background noise. Curious, he extended out one of his fingers to the baby, a smile on his face. The little one managed to free a single arm from the blanket and gripped his finger with surprising dexterity…and strength. It had him burning with curiosity, but she was just too damned cute for him to care.

"Tai. Ozpin is going to be here in the morning." Qrow said as he came back into the room to the sight of the two of them bonding. He gaped like a fish for a moment, closed his mouth, and groaned. "You're already planning on keeping it."

"Her." He idly corrected, watching as Raven and Summer made their way into the living room.

"We got plenty of stuff for now, even if Raven did terrify half the workers at the store." Summer said, a bemused smile on her face. Taiyang could see it now; Raven with a single hand on her sword as she demanded to know where they kept the diapers. It brought a smile to his face.

"We're going to take shifts keeping watch on the baby, just in case. I already left a call with the mission office to let them know I won't be there tomorrow." Summer finished, leading Taiyang to object, before she shushed him. "I'm not leaving you guys alone to handle this. This is a Team Matter." She said, and Taiyang could hear the capitalization in there.

He was immensely grateful, and the relief of having Summer at his back yet again did more to relax him than anything. "Thanks." He said, voice thick with emotion.

He offered to take first watch, which the half-drunk Qrow and exhausted Summer accepted. They went upstairs to their guest rooms, leaving him and Raven alone. She leaned against the wall, looking down at the little child who had once again settled down.

"So…looks like you found another stray." She said neutrally. If it had been any other time, Taiyang might have been scared to have this conversation. But he could already feel his determination, somewhere deep inside his very being.

"Looks that way, unless she actually turns out to be a brain-eating alien." He mused, considering the adorable little creature nestled under layers of blankets.

"Poor thing would starve with only you around, then." She said, a wistful tone in her voice, before she turned serious. "But you do know, this kid isn't normal, even ignoring the fact she came from space or something. Too…" Raven fought for the right words for the moment. "Perfect."

"You're right." He offered.

"You don't even know how to change a diaper." She shot.

"I can learn." He deflected.

"You're a huntsman, you don't have time to raise a kid." She challenged.

"I can take a teaching job at Signal." He replied.

A silence fell over them for a good long while, before Raven broke first. "Idiot." She said, with a tenderness that was all the sweeter for hard he had fought to win it. "She's gonna need a name, though."

Indeed, she did. With great care, he picked up his new charge once more, and looked at her serene features. Licking his suddenly dry lips, it came to him at once. "Yang. Yang Xiao-Long." He tried.

Little Sun Dragon.

With those three words, it felt like a piece of his heart he hadn't even known was missing was put into place, like it had always belonged there.

Perhaps the days ahead might prove to be challenging. But right here, right now, with his team at his side, and a joyous little ball of light in his lap, Taiyang Xiao-Long knew he would face life with open arms, and closed fists.

* * *

AN: I must first and foremost give thanks to all those readers who are following my works. Your comments, thoughts, and appreciation are like the Astronomican on my long journey through the writers-block infested miasma of the creative process.

I must secondarily give credit to this wonderful video about the 40k-verse: (insert Youtube here) watch?v=cy4CJ4F-epA

It provided much of the inspiration for my intro to the fanfic, adapted to properly serve this AU.

I know the first part of the story is a bit too revealing with plot points, but that is meant to help bridge the suspension of disbelief associated with the alteration of such an important element of 40k-verse.

Some of you still might be dissatisfied with it. Well, tough. As always, when I write something, I stick with a few rules: If the change to canon is fundamental, it is what it is. But all changes that are not meant to be inherently AU should flow from those 'First Principle changes naturally. That is to say, everything should have a logical progression.

Hence why I established the alterations to Primarch canon in the first part of the story. It is to lay the groundwork, and get things out of the way, before people go 'but that doesn't make sense, there can't be female Primarchs, etc.', as well as explaining how there were 20 Space Marine Legions in the first place.

Some of you might also be perfectly content with accepting the story at face value, damn the deeper lore. But lore is important to me, and I firmly believe that a good story cannot stand without an internally consistent narrative. SO TAKE THE EXPOSITION. TAKE IT.

Anyway…this is already an absurdly long Author's Note. In the name of the God-Emperor, I humbly submit this, and hope you enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2

When Taiyang woke up, it was with a bleary-eyed grogginess that made him yearn for the opportunity to roll back under the covers. But it was with a curious mixture of dread and fear that made him stumble out of bed, heading over to the bathroom.

It would do no good to smell of sweat and grime when Ozpin was probably going to show up at the door any minute, so he got ready for the day. He trusted his teammates to make sure little Yang was looked after – yes, even Qrow, especially after Summer had laid down the law -, and thus took his time.

By the time he came out, he felt like a new man. In some ways, he was, and the thought gave him pause, even as he finished throwing a plain t-shirt over his head. Maybe he had been a bit too hasty in his thoughts. What the hell did he know about being a parent?

But at the same time, he didn't think he could just let go of Yang now. He had been the one to pull her from that pod, and ever since she opened her eyes, he felt a connection. And, if nothing else, it was his duty as a Huntsman to help the innocent. Why the girl had been in that pod, and what it meant, that was something that needed to be addressed.

Hopefully, they'd be able to get some answers from him. If anyone could do it, it'd be him.

Taiyang made his way downstairs, doing his best to tip-toe past the guest rooms, so he wouldn't wake anyone up who was still sleeping.

When he got downstairs, he was closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of bacon sizzling away in a pan. Turning the corner to enter the kitchen, he saw Summer standing at the stove, dressed in a black tank-top and jeans, humming away as she cooked.

Yang was sitting on the kitchen table, a wicker basket he had laying around being used as a makeshift carrier. She was wrapped in blankets, snoozing away peacefully.

"How long have you been up?" He asked, leaning against the wall as he watched her, a bit unused to the sight of his team leader in such a…domestic setting.

Summer turned to glance at him, bringing a hand up to brush her bangs out of her eyes. "Eh, only an hour or two. Raven and Qrow are still sleeping. But I figured you'd be up soon, so…" She shrugged, a smile on her face. "I decided to get cooking."

"Uhhuh." He said, a dubious look on his face. "What batch of bacon are you on?"

Summer froze visibly, before turning to look at him with a stony visage. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tai."

"Summer, I just went shopping for food yesterday, and I know you. How much of it is already gone?" It was well known on their team that Summer enjoyed meat the way Qrow liked booze. It made other people look at Taiyang funny whenever he brought it up, but he swore up, down, and sideways that Summer Rose could pack it away.

Very carefully, she turned away, eyes looking every which way but at him. "I can neither confirm nor deny that something might have happened to the first pack I used. But hypothetically – "

"Mmm. Hypothetically." He mused, already starting to move towards the fridge to check.

"Hypothetically, I might have been hungry and eaten what I made already. Or you might have just miscounted what you bought at the store." She finished, lifting her chin up with a defiant look on her face.

He opened the fridge, and examined the contents. He raised an eyebrow at her, forcing her to confess. "I might have also made some last night. Hypothetically." She stressed.

"Well, your hypothetical gluttony aside, we're going to need to get more stuff." He said, frowning as he looked once more over the shelves. "What happened to the formula?"

"That's the other thing. She drank it all." She said, her expression turning serious, her eyes flicking over to Yang. Tai's own fell on the sleeping baby, and he looked back to Summer.

"We mixed, what, two days' worth of the stuff?" He said, unable to believe it. "Can a baby even hold that much liquid?"

"Oh, believe me, she wasn't holding it." She informed him with a quirk of her lips. "She was hungry for quite a while, but she finally settled down."

There might have been a reasonable explanation for it. But from what little Tai knew of babies, they could be fussy, but not ravenous. Not enough to consume that much formula at once.

They were both silent for a while, not wanting to give voice to their fears about the kid. Summer tended to the food and finally gave some to Taiyang, who gratefully accepted it. He ate it quietly, preferring to enjoy the peace now.

"Did Ozpin call yet?" He asked, finally breaking the silence, unable to justify it any longer. Not when they probably had a long day ahead of them.

"He did. He'll be here within the hour." Summer replied, a look of determination on her face. "Guess we should wake the others up. You want to do the honors?"

Taiyang shrugged. "Guess I should. At least Qrow won't be too hung over." Marching back upstairs, he turned to knock on the door of Qrow's room, pausing. Tentatively, he turned around to the opposite room, and entered.

Raven was splayed out on the bed, lightly snoring underneath the thin blankets. Taiyang watched her for a short moment, enjoying the look of her at peace, before going up to her. Leaning down gently, he kissed her on the cheek. "Wake up." He murmured lightly, not daring to go further.

Raven gave a half-strangled groan of complaint, eyes fluttering open as she looked at him. "What gave you the balls?" She said, looking at him with an indignant expression tempered with light amusement. Sitting up in bed, she took a deep breath. "Wha' time is it, anyway?"

"It's around ten. Ozpin is gonna be here soon." Taiyang informed her, making her scowl as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"Not my favorite prospect." She muttered, sighing as she rose. She thought for a moment, smirking as she turned to Taiyang. "Is Qrow up?"

He had an idea where this was going. Although he loved Qrow like the brother he never had, he also wasn't going to play defense for him. "Nope. I wanted to wake you first." He told her truthfully.

Raven's expression turned truly wicked, and she silently stalked out of the room. Taiyang turned to follow, watching as she quietly opened the door to Qrow's room. He was still dressed in his clothes from the night before, snoring loudly belly down on the bed.

With great relish, Raven leaned down next to Qrow's ear in a mockery of Taiyang's actions only a minute ago. With a deep breath, she screamed "WAKE UP!" right next to his ear.

"AH!" Qrow yelled, rolling off the bed, cursing all the while. Raven calmly walked out, satisfied with her handiwork as Qrow swore eternal vengeance upon her all the while.

"At least I can start the day off on the right foot now." She said, leaving Taiyang to stand there in amusement as she wandered off to get ready.

Mission accomplished, Taiyang made his way back downstairs, knowing that soon enough, Ozpin would arrive, and then they might start to get to the bottom of things.

* * *

About a half hour later, the members of Team STRQ were all sitting in the living room, dressed in their usual attire, awaiting Ozpin's imminent arrival.

They had moved Yang's makeshift carrier to the table in the living room, but Yang herself was currently being held by Summer, rocking the sleeping girl back and forth slowly.

"She's so cute, it's infectious." Qrow finally declared as they all watched, enthralled. "Is it her or are all babies like that?"

Even the normally stoic Raven was keeping watch out of the corner of her eye, while idly polishing the same part of her sword for the third time in a row now.

"I think it might be her." Taiyang admitted, knowing he was bias on the subject. "I've seen other kids before. Sure, they're cute, but she just has this…presence." Indeed, it was one of the many strange things about the little one.

"Maybe it's a semblance? Maybe the pod was some kind of…aura-activator?" Raven posited.

"I don't think it is. If it was, why would it have come out of nowhere? Seems like an awful waste, to shoot something that could do that into a crater." Summer said, her gaze focused on the baby.

"Then there's a matter of the pod itself. It survived a drop that would have shattered a bullhead, and the paint was barely scratched." Taiyang pointed out.

Any further musing on the nature of their new guest was put on hold, as finally, they heard the tell-tale sign of a car pulling up to the house.

Summer's smile grew, as she gently put the baby back into her cradle. "Well, at least he's finally he- "

With a crack of splintering wood, Taiyang's front door _shattered_ as Ozpin stormed through, his signature cane held up in a defensive posture. His eyes practically were blazing as he scanned the room with the intensity of someone on the hunt.

Team STRQ watched, incredulously, frozen into inaction at the sign of the normally calm and composed Headmaster reacting with such violence to the situation.

"Ozpin, what the hell is goi- "Taiyang tried to say, only for the white-haired man to hold his cane up threateningly.

Ozpin. Pointing a _weapon_ at Taiyang. Even _Summer_ was rendered speechless.

"Don't say a word." His voice was beyond cold, straight past arctic. It was the chill of the void of space, and it, even more than the weapon, convinced them of Ozpin's seriousness.

Slowly, with excruciating slowness, he circled them all. Beads of sweat trickled down Taiyang's skin as Ozpin went behind him, where he couldn't see him. Raven was biting her lip, all at once furious but too afraid to make a bad situation worse.

Summer clung to Yang like a security blanket, while Qrow, poor Qrow, looked like his heart had been ripped out from his chest. Qrow had always looked up to Ozpin more than the rest of them. To see his mentor treat them like the enemy…that must have hurt, and Tai would have done anything to comfort him right then and there.

At times, Ozpin's eyes would flicker with strange light as he muttered things under his breath to himself. His gaze would scan over each of them in turn, sometimes falling upon the bundled Yang. Summer held all the more tightly onto her at those points, and more than once Taiyang wanted to go for a weapon.

The standoff lasted for only a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. All at once, Ozpin straightened out. "Each of you. Flare your aura, one at a time. _Slowly._ Summer, you first." He demanded.

With exactness, they all manifested their respective aura over time, keeping it up until Ozpin was satisfied and ordered the next one to go.

When they were all finished, he visibly slumped with relief as he took a deep, shuddering breath. Taiyang could see the tip of his cane shaking as he lowered it back to the ground.

"You're all okay." It was said with such genuine surprise and emotion that it broke the spell over Team STRQ.

"Ozpin. What's going on?" Summer asked, eyes wide with concern and confusion.

Their friend, their mentor and leader appeared uncertain as to how to reply. He was visibly shifting in discomfort, before he finally ran a hand through his hair as he reached a decision. "Take me to the pod you found, first. Then I'll try to explain." He said, with great reluctance coloring his every word.

At a loss, they all got up and led him outside to Taiyang's shed, where the device still rested. It was inert, just as they left it, the pod open to allow inspection of the interior.

Ozpin repeated much of his same routine as they had with them, examining every angle of the device. Finally, he stepped forward and ran a hand over the surface. At once, sigils and symbols of unknown and unknowable shape began to shine with golden light. Some of them _hurt_ to look at, and they averted their eyes almost immediately.

At once, Ozpin hissed, pulling his hand back, the light fading almost immediately. "That is something entirely beyond me." He muttered. Before they could ask what he meant by that, he turned his attention back to them.

"You all _reek_ of Sorcery, and not the kind that's practiced by cheap charlatans." He began, fiddling with his cane, his timeless face looking as serious as Taiyang had ever seen it.

"As best I can tell, wherever this pod came from? It's entirely beyond your experience, and almost beyond mine. We're very lucky, very lucky indeed that worse did not occur." He continued.

"I thought that you and Salem were the only ones who could still do Magic, besides the Maidens." Raven said, her tone accusing, clearly fed up with Ozpin's erratic behavior and lack of answers.

"I thought we were too." He said, running a hand over his face as he gathered himself. "Listen. There's a lot about magic that I don't tell people. It disappeared from Remnant for quite a while, longer than recorded history, and my source for that bit of information is trust worthy. Whatever that pod is, it did not come from Remnant."

It…wasn't a totally unexpected answer. But to have confirmation from Ozpin really hammered home the gravity of the situation. They had living, breathing proof that they were not alone in the Cosmos.

"May I see the child?" He asked, hooking his cane back on his belt, and holding out his hands. Summer froze, still clearly off-kilter from their impromptu interrogation. She looked to Taiyang for confirmation, who let out a slow breath, and nodded.

Gently, she handed off the swaddled Yang to him, who carefully unwrapped her. Still, his motions finally jolted her from her slumber. She yawned, and even Ozpin's clinical interest softened under the force of that cuteness.

But when he finally had her unwrapped, he frowned. "Erm…could one of you hold her up, just for a second?"

Puzzled by the unusual request, Summer came up and held her up. Ozpin gently picked up one of her arms in his hand and held a finger up to her skin. Yang tried to grab onto his hair with her other free hand, making noises of curiosity the whole while.

Whatever Ozpin found, he didn't like it. His look of discontent deepened, and he repeated the process with her other arm.

"Is…is this a sorcery thing?" Summer asked as she stood there, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Not that anyone could blame her. Raven was probably a second away from drawing her sword, damn the consequences.

"I…" Ozpin was clearly trying to come off as though he was being wise, but he finally settled for just speaking. "Did none of you realize she has two heartbeats?"

What.

 _What._

"Ozpin, that's…that's insane." Taiyang couldn't even believe those words came out of Ozpin's mouth. That was just one too many things that were out of his league. He was a Huntsman, damnit, not some sort of occultist, or whatever it was Ozpin dabbled in.

"Out of all the things that have happened in the past twenty-four hours, a second heartbeat is what's crazy here, Tai?" Qrow said, shaking his head. "Summer, with all due respect, the second we get some down time from this, I'm getting _wasted_."

She couldn't even find it in her heart to rebuke him. She didn't drink, but if there was any time she felt the urge to get hammered, it was now.

Ozpin took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was maybe thirty-five at most, but he looked ancient to them all in that one moment. "Alright. The baby is going to- "

"Yang." Ozpin paused, looking to Raven, as did the rest of them, startled that she had interrupted. She held her head high and dared him to contradict her. "Her name. Yang Xiao-Long." She enunciated clearly.

The headmaster's lips quirked into something resembling a smile, and he continued. " _Yang_ is going to need to go to Atlas. James Ironwood can help us."

"Jimmy, huh? How's he doing these days? Heard about the arm, nasty business." Qrow said, crossing his arms as he recalled his rival from their school days. They had gone toe to toe in one of the Vytal tournaments, with Qrow barely coming out the victor. But they had some distant respect for each other, and no Huntsman wished injury on another.

"He's doing alright, with the help of some new cybernetics. That's part of why I think Yang should go to Atlas." Ozpin continued, holding out his hands in a gesture of peace. "Ironwood recently was promoted to Colonel. He's in charge of a research base. Very out of the way, with access to some of the best scientists from every field you can imagine."

As much as they all wanted to reject the deeply discomforting idea of giving a child over to the mercy of researchers, deep down they all recognized the reality of the situation. Clearly this was not a normal human being, no matter how healthy and vibrant she seemed.

"One of the doctors there is especially brilliant. He's the one who designed James' cybernetics, and is perhaps the foremost expert on biomechanics on Remnant. If there's any group on the planet who can help decipher Yang's unique traits, and maybe give us more insight on where she came from, it would be them." He finished, leaving them all to stand there in silence.

"She'll be safe?" Taiyang asked, regaining a bit of his balance as he re-entered territory that was familiar to him.

"You have my word. No harm will come to her." He said with sincerity. Taiyang almost accepted it at face value. But…there was a nagging part of him that could almost hear the unspoken part. 'Unless I have no other choice.'

Still, what choice did _he_ have? What if there was something wrong with her, that they could fixed if only they had caught it in time?

"Alright. Do it." He finally agreed, praying he hadn't just made a horrible mistake.

Ozpin nodded, pulling out a bulky looking device from his pocket. "I'll make the arrangements. You might want to get packed."

With that, he made his way out of Taiyang's workshop to place calls, leaving Team STRQ alone. "I hope you know what you're doing." Raven said, glancing at the door. "Sorcery? Atlas research bases? I'm not liking this one bit, Salem was bad enough."

"I'm sure Ozpin had good reasons for…all of that." Qrow tried, sticking up for his mentor. "He has a better grasp on the situation than we do."

"But even you all heard that whatever this is…it's not something he's really dealt with before. That's not exactly a good sign." Summer pointed out, before looking down at the squirming Yang in her arms, who was drooling all over her cloak, before looking back to Tai. "This is worse than that time you tried to give that Corgi an aura."

The reminder made Taiyang snort, chuckling even as it brought smiles to the rest of their faces. "Don't give me any ideas, Summer. After all, it'd probably be the perfect pet for Yang." He said, smirking before looking at them all. "Alright, boys and girls. Guess we got some traveling to do."

A look of realization came across his face after that, and he sighed in resignation. "And a door to repair."

* * *

It took about a day for Ironwood to get the arrangements made to take them all to Atlas. A long-range transport aircraft had been dispatched just for them, complete with sleeping quarters. With a bit of effort, they managed to get the heavy pod into the aircraft, along with all their gear and luggage.

The flight was long, and more than once they had to try and soothe Yang when she started to act up from the overstimulation of the noisy interior.

By the time they arrived at a military airfield just inside the borders of Atlas, they were all tired and hungry, even with the amenities provided to them.

Thankfully, at the base, they were able to pick up some infant's clothes for Yang, especially cold-weather things that made the next leg of the trip far more comfortable for her. That allowed them to catch some sleep, even as a regular bullhead flew them all the way out to the northern border of Atlas, where the climate truly started to get frigid.

When they finally arrived at their destination, it was about as far from civilization as you could get. There was an airstrip that ended at the foot of a highly reinforced blast door. Sentry guns swiveled back and forth endlessly in the gray gloom of the tundra, ready to fire on any Grimm or unauthorized intruders.

The doors slid open at their approach, and Team STRQ's bullhead was allowed inside. It was a fairly spacious hangar, with about a dozen bullheads and two larger cargo aircraft lined up neatly. A single soldier stood guard at a pair of smaller rear doors but had four more automated guns mounted on the wall.

As they set down, the hangar bay doors slid closed, shielding them from the elements. Having been awakened during the final stretch of their approach, they walked out of their ship, waiting for their welcome party.

They didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, a cadre of soldiers arrived, with their host at the lead. "I see Ozpin wasn't exaggerating when he told me you four have a habit of getting into trouble." James Ironwood said, a stern expression on his face.

Despite being approximately their age, he was more physically imposing than even Taiyang, and looked several years older. Bulky, dressed in a clean pressed Atlas uniform, it would have been hard to imagine that only a year ago, he had been legally dead for about a minute. It had only been his hardy constitution, and the blessing of improved cybernetic technology that allowed him to regain a mostly normal life.

"Well Jimmy, you know us Vale hunters. Always up for a bit of excitement." Qrow said casually, sizing up his former rival for a moment before giving him a nod. "You're looking good. Glad to see it."

"I appreciate it." The Colonel remarked, expression carefully neutral. Clearing his throat, he gestured to the soldiers. "My men will take the pod away for analysis. As to the…child in your care, I believe I would be better to let you speak with our head of research."

James looked behind him, only to see that, whoever he thought had been there, wasn't. Pursing his lips, he coughed awkwardly. "Just, give him a moment. I'm sure he's been held up."

It took a few minutes, but finally, a figure in a lab coat stumbled down one of the side hallways off the main corridor and walked into the hanger. "Ah, sorry about that. It's bad enough trying to juggle projects on the best of days." The man said, coming to a halt next to Ironwood.

Ironwood was clearly used to these sorts of things, judging from the look on his face. "It's not a problem. Ozpin, Team STRQ, meet Doctor Pewter Polendina, head of Research."

Doctor Polendina was a bit older than Ozpin appeared to be, perhaps in his early forties. He was a fairly short man, with graying red hair kept neatly trimmed to an almost military shortness. A pair of glasses were kept on a small chain around his neck, most likely for reading.

"Well…I have to say, I'm not one for greetings, usually, but welcome to our laboratory. I was quite shocked when the good Colonel here told us that we were to be having an unexpected guest." Peering curiously at the little bundle that Taiyang had chosen to hold this time, he approached him. "Might I see her?"

With a wordless nod, Taiyang held Yang out to Dr. Polendina, who graciously accepted her. Yang was awake now, and peered at the doctor, scrutinizing him with as much seriousness as he was her. When he tilted his head to the side, she mimicked the motion. "Remarkable." He breathed. "Quite unexpected behavior from a child at developmental stage."

As if in agreement, Yang giggled, squealing in delight of having found a new friend. She was making quite a lot of new friends, and although Taiyang worried about tiring her out, Yang was extremely well behaved.

"I can see that Colonel Ironwood was not exaggerating about how special she was." He said indulgently, a smile on his face. "Even considering what I've been told so far, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it soon enough. I'll run some basic tests, and we'll make sure she's healthy first. Then we'll get to the bottom of her more…peculiar traits. Genetics are a bit of a specialty of mine, although I admit I'm more interested in Aural Mechanics these days."

Considering the baby he held, he hummed for a moment even as he subconsciously bounced her around a bit, to Yang's bubbly joy. "Give me…three days? And I'll have some information to tell you."

"Excellent." Ozpin said smoothly, before anyone else could get a word in. "That will be amenable to everyone here, I'm sure." He looked to everyone, Taiyang most of all, who in turn nodded their consent.

"A few days? Hell, that's even better than I thought." Qrow remarked, smirking at Ironwood. "I might even consider giving you a rematch before we head back to Vale."

* * *

Qrow's optimism would turn out to be extremely misguided.

Team STRQ was given their own section of the barracks to live in for the duration of Dr. Polendina's analysis. When they didn't hear anything back after the third day, they assumed that Yang's tests were simply taking a bit more time. After all, even if Yang's health was important, Pewter probably had other obligations he simply couldn't drop.

Then a week passed since their arrival. They still weren't worried, because they all justified it as being natural. _Of course,_ Polendina underestimated the time he would need to run his tests. Yang was quite special, and they might have been also running tests on that pod she came in to help.

If during that first week, Taiyang had been a bit more on edge, well, he just wrote it off as not liking being indoors all the time.

Then the second week passed, and things started to take a turn for the worst. Maybe, they discussed among themselves in hushed whispers, they were simply being as exhaustive as possible. Scientists liked to do that, didn't they? Polendina was probably typing up a 'how-to-raise-your-space-baby' manual, complete with color-coordinated references.

Then they woke up one day and realized they had been there for a month.

By that point, they had run out of things to do. Raven's sword was so sharp, she could probably carve through a man while it was still sheathed. Summer had taken to using the barracks workshop to craft increasingly intricate arrows for her bow at odd hours, some more like works of art than killing tools. When she wasn't working, it was easy to notice the tense strain in her hands.

Taiyang more than once split his knuckles on the punching bags in the gym, working himself through exercise that left him completely exhausted, and unsatisfied. Qrow, oddly enough, was perhaps the most affected of them all by the torturous wait. He had started to drink, taking advantage of Ironwood's own personal stores and the generous provisions Atlas gave its soldiers, but then stopped all at once.

When Taiyang quietly asked him why one morning, Qrow looked at him with dead eyes and told him that it had only made his anxiety in the base worse.

More than once, they attempted to figure out what the hell was going on, but each time they got the brush off. Ozpin had long since left, unable to neglect his duties for extended periods of time. Ironwood at first gave them steady status reports, always telling them 'just a little bit longer', but those trickled off over time. And each time he refused their requests to see Yang, citing the delicate nature of the tests, he looked increasingly haggard and grim.

Early morning, after breakfast, they gathered around as a team on their Atlas-Issue cots and started to talk.

"This can't go on. I'm ready to tear my way through this base and haul Ironwood back to Vale, just so I can shove his head up Ozpin's ass." Raven began, with as fierce and bloodthirsty an expression anyone on the team had seen her with.

Taiyang found himself agreeing with her. Whereas Raven's temper was tempestuous, Qrow's sharp and sudden, Summer's frigid, Taiyang's was both the least and greatest among the team. His was much like a volcano. Usually dormant, with a steady fire burning underneath the surface. Normally harmless to those around him, but when allowed to build, and build, and _build…_

That was another matter entirely. And he was _this close_ to bursting.

"Summer. I have to agree with them." Qrow finally said, throwing in his lot with the brewing rebellion. "There's something wrong about all of this." With their thoughts aired, Taiyang's own state of utter desolation and building fury saying more than words ever could, they turned to Summer.

Their team leader looked tired. With dark circles under her eyes, she considered each of their words. As perhaps the most level headed among them at any given time, she was a unifying force. She tempered their worst impulses, and played to their strengths, while they gave her their loyal support. It was a symbiotic relationship, and now more than ever, they were being tested.

"We go to Ironwood one last time, with an ultimatum." It was a grave pronouncement, and one that was laced with her own frustration. "If he doesn't give us an explanation, we fight out way out and take Yang with us. I can pilot a bullhead, and Raven can probably teleport Yang to safety." She looked to the swordswoman for confirmation, who gave a confident nod.

They all gathered their weapons. Qrow his variable-scythe, Raven her sword, Taiyang his submachine gun gauntlets, and Summer her bow. They kept them sheathed, but ready to be used at a moment's notice, and marched off towards Ironwood's office.

The soldiers were only keeping them from the laboratory area, claiming that the scientists work was sensitive and classified. But, as authorized guests, they were allowed almost anywhere else in the base. Thus, when they barged inside to find Ironwood blearily reading over a set of documents, they met no resistance.

"Team STRQ." He said, voice edged with exhaustion. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, looking up from his reading.

"You know why, Ironwood." Summer said evenly. Taiyang didn't trust himself to speak, and the others were too focused on the potential of combat to even bother with their usual banter.

"I do. I'm sorry, but the last few weeks have been as hellish for me as they have been for you. I've given Doctor Polendina every bit of leniency…" Now, he eyed the way their hands were twitching for their weapons. "But I can clearly see you're going to leave me no choice in the matter. Can't say I blame you."

His hand went to the phone on his desk – slowly, they noticed, so as not to antagonize them -, and pressed a button on his desk, before raising the phone up to speak into it. "Send Doctor Polendina to my office, immediately. I- no, I don't care what he's doing. Bring him here, now, o- "He paused, before letting a strangled sound of frustration escape his lips. He held the phone away for a moment. "He'll let you into the lab. Apparently, whatever he's doing needs his personal supervision, just in case."

"We'll take it." Taiyang said immediately, grateful for the out. None of them had truly wanted to resort to violence, even Raven.

Ironwood sighed, nodded his head and gesturing with his hand for them to leave. "Go, do what you need to do. I'm too busy trying to field all the paperwork these tests are generating."

At that signal, they turned around and walked straight back out. The main laboratory where they had secreted Yang away was only a few corridors down, and for once, the soldiers didn't deny them entry. "You're cleared." One said simply, standing to the side while another opened the door.

Whatever they had been expecting, this wasn't it. The lab was wide open, and spacious. Dozens of glass partitions separated work stations, where scientists were hurriedly running back and forth from one station to another, frantically consulting with each other.

Almost none of them even paid the Hunters any mind as they strolled forth into the lab proper, seeing how the various, enclosed chambers continued to stretch onward. Against the far wall, on the right, they could finally see a little crib.

Taiyang didn't really care for anything else after that. He moved past scientists, nearly bowling one over in his single-minded approach. As he got closer, he could see Doctor Polendina hunched over a computer near Yang's crib, watching the screen intently.

With great self-control, Taiyang firmly grasped the other man's shoulder. Not enough to hurt him certainly. But enough to remind him that he was dealing one _very_ capable Hunter. "Doctor." He greeted with a sickeningly sweet tone.

Pewter flinched and turned around to face him, slowly standing up. Taiyang relinquished his grip, deciding to at least give credit to the man for wanting to look him in the eye. He had a lot of explaining to do.

"Mr. Xiao-Long." He said, eyeing the rest of his team over Taiyang's shoulder. "I apologize for not contacting you sooner, but I can explain."

"Then do, Doctor." Summer replied, before glancing over to the crib. "Might we check up on Yang?"

"Yes." Pewter relaxed fractionally when he realized that Team STRQ was not going to immediately wipe the floor with him. He reached over to press a button on his console, allowing the clear door to her crib to slide open.

Almost at once, Summer went to fetch Yang, while Raven stepped forward to stand at Taiyang's side. "Start talking." She said with a surprisingly even tone. "Why haven't you told us anything? You said _three days_ , it's been a month."

Pewter straightened out, clearing his throat before he began to talk. "I completely and utterly underestimated the enormity of what I was dealing with. Her two hearts? To be quite honest, that is the _least_ interesting of her mutations by an order of magnitude."

"Mutations?" Qrow asked, sounding about as worried as Taiyang felt. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Well, mutations might have been the wrong word. _Modifications_ is probably a more accurate term, considering they were clearly induced deliberately in her. They're a part of her, coded down into her very DNA." Polendina turned back to his computer and began pulling up different images. A projector slid down from the ceiling, displaying various medical charts that had little meaning to any of them.

"Normal human DNA has twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. As best we can tell, she has thirty-eight." Before anyone could even process that, he pulled up an x-ray image. "See these structures in her brain?" He pointed with a finger to various little bits of tissue that Taiyang had a hard time deciphering. "Those don't exist in normal humans."

Taiyang almost wanted to interrupt, but the doctor was on a roll, frantically pulling up more images. "Her neurons are far more numerous and more responsive than a normal child's would be at this stage. Her cognitive functions, memory capacity, and reflexes are off the charts. Her metabolism, musculature, skeletal structure all show signs of highly accelerated growth, in addition to other enhancements."

More pictures, this time of blood vessels. "She probably has the strength of a four-year-old now. But that's just the things I _can_ understand. She has organs, glands, chemicals in her body we simply don't have names for."

He went back to the first image, before pulling up a blown-up scan of her brain. He walked over to the projector and pointed to a very small, almost thumb-sized little nodule of tissue situated near the back of her skull. "That. That…gland, that organ? It's directing her aberrant physiology, as best we can tell. But the things it's doing to accomplish that…" He trailed off, seemingly in awe. "It's nothing short of miraculous. We're like primitive apes in comparison to this child."

Polendina turned back to face them all and looked him dead in the eye. "Whoever did this had technology centuries, perhaps millennia ahead of anything I have access to here. I've pulled every researcher in this facility together to try and decipher Yang's biology."

Now that he was looking for it, Taiyang could see the exhaustion in Polendina's every moment. But the doctor pressed on never the less. "She's beyond transhuman. Her very existence has my scientists throwing out several laws of biology and physics."

Pewter ran a hand over his face, trying to keep himself on an even keel as he collected his thoughts. "I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say that Yang's DNA is the most important discovery in the history of Remnant. _Ever._ "A thought occurred to him, and he started to chuckle with an edge of hysteria. "And that's ignoring the fact that she came from the stars! The implications…" He shuddered visibly, before managing to collect himself once more.

That was big. Way bigger than anything Taiyang had ever expected, and he really, really did not know how to handle something like that. "I get it, Doctor. But let's reel it back in, get back to basics. Is she healthy?" He tried, hoping to get at least some context.

Polendina paused, then looked at him for a moment like he was the stupidest being on the planet, before a look of comprehension came over him. "I didn't even tell you about that part. Yes, yes, as far as we can tell, she _is_ healthy. Her immune system is several orders of magnitude more advanced than ours. You could probably dunk her in toxic, irradiated waste and she would come out with a headache at best. Not that'd I'd recommend that."

It was extremely disconcerting to consider _that_ particular prospect. But Taiyang managed to put it out of his mind. "Can she leave? Even you have to realize that you can't keep a child in a laboratory all her life, no matter how special she is."

Polendina looked like the very thought of Yang leaving physically pained him. "Mr. Xiao-Long, I understand where you're coming from…but the _good_ she can do here for the human and faunus races is simply incalculable. I'm not talking about mere scientific curiosity."

He leaned forward, excitement coloring his every word. "Her genome could be the key to eradicating disease, hunger, and based on the results of our latest tests, even aging. I understand you've grown attached to her, but please, _please_ , consider the facts!"

Gods, but the hope in the man's eyes made Taiyang feel bad for ever thinking that he would have done Yang harm. Yet, as much as he understood, he had already made a promise to himself to advocate for her, as any parent would. "She's just a child, Doctor Polendina. Surely you can make do with the information you've collected over the past month?"

Pewter looked like he wanted to argue, and vehemently at that. But he managed to swallow his pride and sighed, slowly nodding. "I could. But at least bring her here for regular checkups, and at the first sign of anything especially strange with her. Regular blood samples will be key to trying to understand her growth."

It was a compromise, and a hard one. Taiyang did not look forward to bringing her here to this cold, sterile place. But who else could he possibly turn to with questions about Yang? It wasn't like he could just walk into any hospital and bring her there. And the less people who knew about her origins, the better. "Will do, Doctor. And please, try and remember to keep us up to date with any discoveries you do make." Taiyang said, giving him a pointed look.

The doctor at least had the decency to look remorseful. "I've been working almost twenty hours a day trying to piece this all together, and so has my team. I would have told you sooner, but there's just been so much data to sift through, and – "

Taiyang cut him off, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. "It's alright, Doc. No harm done." He said with the first genuine smile he had in a few weeks. "Can we take her home now?"

Pewter considered it and shrugged. "As much as I want to think of a further reason to keep her here, I can't. I have all the information I truly need."

"Alright then. I'm sure that Ironwood will relay that information to Ozpin, so if you don't mind…" And here, Taiyang finally turned around to see Raven now holding Yang, who was blissfully sleeping. "I think I'll take my daughter home."

* * *

It took another day of travel to get back to Patch. When they touched down, Taiyang had started putting his things away just in time for Summer to regretfully inform him that she really had to get back to her own apartment in Vale. Qrow too had to leave sooner rather than later, on yet another job for Ozpin, who hadn't even mentioned what he thought of the developments at the laboratory.

That just left Taiyang and Raven. Alone.

It wasn't bad at first. They had slept, eaten, picked things up for Yang, realized that all of Taiyang's food had spoiled and had to clean out everything he had, and then to buy all new things. That wasn't even also touching the little things about raising a child that they had to pick up along the way.

But after a few days, they had run out of things to distract themselves with. And now were now finally forced to confront the elephant in the room.

"I know we're…close." Taiyang began, butterflies in his stomach as he considered how this conversation would go. "But, ah…" He gestured to Yang's new crib, where she was watching a small Grimm and Huntsman mobile spin above her with wide eyes. "I know this wasn't exactly what we had in mind." He finished. "So, if you want to leave, I understa-"

Raven cut him off with a kiss. "I'll stay. We'll make it work." She said simply, with the kind of confidence that had made him fall in love with her in the first place.

"Alright." Taiyang agreed, with a dazed, dopey smile on his face once she pulled away. "We'll make it work."

He was sure they would. Yang might have been…well, special didn't even begin to describe it, but she was still a child.

How bad could it be?

* * *

AN: This is the longest chapter I have ever written for a fanfic. Ever.

I…honestly don't know how I did this in approximately one and a quarter days. So that's a _thing_.

On another note, I'm quite pleased at the so-far positive response from people who have read the first chapter. It is good to see so many devout servants of the God-Emperor who have accepted the premise. Just as Planned, foolish Corpse-Worshippers.

I do have a request, though: Anyone who feels as though they might be interested in helping to be a sounding board for ideas is quite welcome to message me. It would be of immense help to have someone who is fairly vested in the extended universe of 40k to see if my alterations pass the 'smell test', as it were.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a long two years, Taiyang reflected as he made his way back home, driving the small car back down the dirt road back to his house.

Raising Yang had proven to be both a challenge, and a blessing, one that he wouldn't trade for anything else in the world.

But for all that he was happy to have her in his life, he still worried for a variety of reasons. The least of which was the latest discussion he had had with Dr. Polendina about her unique situation.

As Polendina had put it, Yang's growth started out roughly double the human norm physically, and eventually tapered off as she reached maturity. But, according to him, that growth was also not on the same scale as a regular human, and the numbers he had rattled off made Taiyang anxious just thinking about it.

Eleven feet. That was the upper end for Yang's eventual height when she was finished growing. She would be _six feet_ tall by the time she was entering Signal.

Meanwhile, he claimed that her mental growth was different. She would start off at roughly double the human baseline, and then her growth would _increase_ for most of her life, until plateauing at biological maturity.

It was that kind of information that made him fearful for her. As much as he knew she was special, he didn't want to rob her of normal human interaction.

Yet what else could he do? He couldn't explain away why he had a daughter that was taller than him by the time she was fucking thirteen.

When he had informed Ozpin of the situation, he had offered him all the financial resources he needed to hire tutors, or even to outright forge more documents to certified she had been home schooled if he had to.

Taiyang might just end up having to take it, but he certainly did not want to. Yang deserved to grow up with people her own age. It made him feel powerless to know that, no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able give her a normal childhood.

Despite her origins, and her quirks, deep down she was just a little girl right now. One who was growing up way too fast, but she still laughed, she cried, and experienced emotions like the rest of them.

She wouldn't be able to have friends, or really connect with people. She would always be _different_ , towering over others. Although he suspected that even if she didn't have an abnormal physiology, she'd be doing that anyway.

Yang right now was the equivalent of a four-year-old in size. She came up to his knee, roughly, and was already able to have full conversations with him, even if she didn't understand everything adult yet. Her second 'birthday' had only been a month ago.  
It had been a small affair, with only Team STRQ, Ozpin, and Dr. Polendina in attendance. A poor turnout for a child's birthday, but it was what it was.

Even then, the other two had been there with various ulterior motives in mind. Polendina wanted to observe Yang's behavior in a 'normal' environment, while Ozpin had been there, in his own words, to make sure there was nothing 'unusual' happening with Yang.

That had been a fun day for Yang, but a stressful one for Taiyang because of their presence. Raven had been tense the whole time, but that was because she not used to such domestic settings. Hunter training at Beacon had been one thing, hanging out with her team was a matter of comradery.

But cakes, candles, domestic settings? She didn't take to it well, at all. Taiyang could understand why, and that was part of the reason why he had chosen to be the stay-at-home parent, for the most part. He did teach, but it wasn't as though he left Yang entirely unattended. Either Summer, Qrow, or Raven were there to make sure she wasn't getting up to trouble.

She did anyway, of course. Yang's name was apt in more ways than one, for she was filled with a boundless energy. Even at four, she was trying to climb trees, swim, do anything and everything in the great outdoors. She loved nature, and already had incredible endurance for a child.

At first, Taiyang had been worried she would hurt herself. But so many actions that would have given a normal child bumps, scrapes, and bruises didn't even break her skin.

Once, she had actually jumped from a tree while his back had been turned. When he heard the 'thump', his heart had stopped.

He had rushed over to her, frantically trying to assess the damage. She had been groaning on the ground, and he had checked all over to see where she had fell. Was it her legs, her back, her head? He was immensely lucky she hadn't snapped her neck on the way down.

When she said "Oh…tha's why you said ta' be careful.", and promptly got back to her feet with only a faint bruise on her head, he had been rendered speechless for a minute.

He had promptly grounded her for the next week and told her never to scare him like that again.

From then on, she had been far more careful when going out to play. He still didn't like her going out to do that sort of thing, but it was kind of hard to chastise her when he knew that there was almost nothing in the yard that could conceivably hurt her.

The only what he could see her hurting herself is if she managed to get into his workshop or something…

Hmm. He'd have to get a lock for it now.

But that could wait. All he wanted to do right now was to get in, eat, and relax for the rest of the evening as much as he could.

As he pulled up to the house though, he immediately began noticing things that put him on alert. Yang wasn't outside, running up to the car to greet him. Normally Raven let her run free in the yard, usually keeping an eye on her or occasionally doing things with her.

Not seeing Yang outside wasn't unusual in and of itself, but Raven's motorcycle was missing, too.

Had she gone somewhere? Maybe…but why didn't she just wait for him to get home?

He parked the car, and very carefully made sure that _Rainmaker_ was firmly attached to his arms. Weapons armed and loaded, he approached the house, scanning his surroundings.

He got up to the front steps and tested the doorknob. Locked.

Deciding to take a gamble, he knocked on the door. "Anyone home?" He said in a jovial tone that concealed the apprehension he felt.

A few moments of silence passed, in which Taiyang half-expected to be attacked before the door swung open gently. Yang was standing there, holding the door open for him. "Hi Daddy." She said with a faint lisp, courtesy of her first missing tooth. She was wearing her usual play clothes, a set of jeans and a pale-yellow t-shirt.

"Hey there champ." He said with relief. At least there wasn't anything nefarious going on, like he had half-expected, but he still felt those alarm bells ringing in the back of his head.

"Where's your mother?" He asked after a moment, shutting the door behind him.

"She said she had ta' go out for a while." Yang told him. Before he could even process that, she held out a small envelope for him. "She said ta' give ya' this."

The moment he saw that innocuous piece of paper, he _knew._

He couldn't even begin to work though the swell of emotions that boiled up inside him. It was with immense self-control that he took the letter from Yang's hand. "Thanks. Now, why don't you go outside for a bit, okay? Daddy has to go do a few grown-up things."

"'Kay" She said, walking past him to head outside. Taiyang thanked all the gods he could think of that, as smart as she was, she didn't understand what had just happened yet.

He trudged over to the living room and sat down on the couch, opening the envelope with trembling fingers. There was a letter, alright, written in Raven's jerking, slanted script.

 _Taiyang,_

 _There's not much to say here. When we started to go out, there was some mutual attraction. We were partners, and it was only natural that might turn into something else. But kids? The 'happily ever after?' That was never for me, and you would be kidding yourself otherwise if you thought it was. I stuck around, tried. But a normal kid would have been bad enough, and Yang is something else entirely. Could I have given that kid what she needs? I doubt it. It's not my purpose in life, Taiyang. I'm a fighter, pure and simple._

 _Besides. This war that Ozpin's got us tangled up in? He's not telling us the whole truth. When he told us about the Maidens, and about Magic, I thought he was finally trusting us. But there's a lot more to the story, and from what I've pieced together, this is not a war that we can win. I'm going back to where I belong, so I can prepare for the worst._

 _Hate me if you want, but we're all better off. I can't keep living lies._

 _Raven_

 _Gods_

damn her. Gods _damn her._

He couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that she would do something so completely heartless as this. Abandoning him, abandoning their child. He knew Raven loved Yang, could see it in everything she did. But, clearly, he didn't know her well enough, because he could not believe that the woman he loved would do something as blatantly cruel as abandon them.

For fuck's sake, she had given the letter to _Yang_. What if she had opened it and read it?

The whole situation made him sick with grief and anger. It threatened to drown him in an acidic fury, and he was so desperately trying to keep himself above the waves of raw hurt.

Summer. He needed to call Summer.

He pulled out his new Scroll and dialed it. With growing dread and anxiety, he put up with the wait between beats until he finally got an answer. "Hey Tai, what's up?" Summer said with a characteristic cheerfulness.

"Summer, I…" It was a far as he got before a lump rose in his throat. He took a deep breath, because he had to do this, no matter how hard it was. "Raven's gone." He finally managed to rasp.

A pause of silence ensued before Summer spoke in a tone of pure incredulity. "She…she's _dead?_ I thought she wasn't on any mission this week!"

"No, no no no." God, as much as it pained him to think it, it might have been easier if that was the case. "She gave Yang a letter to give to me, before taking off."

He could hear her take in a shaky breath, trying to process the idea. "That's…I'm coming over. Right now. Just stay _right there_." She pleaded.

"Okay." He said numbly, before hanging up. He took a deep breath, and tried, very carefully, to get control of himself.

He failed, and wept.

* * *

The instant Taiyang hung up, Summer was already halfway out the door of her apartment, snagging the keys to her car. It was a small thing, utilitarian and austere. A hunter lifestyle paid well, but Summer was never one to spend money unnecessarily.

She got in, revved up the engine, and sped out of her parking spot like a bat out of hell. The neighbors would probably give her shit for it later, but all she could care about right now was getting to her teammate.

As she drove, a glint out of the corner of her eye made her look up. It was a small picture hanging from a chain on the joint of the rear-view mirror. It was a photo of their team, all standing together, taken during their second year at Beacon.

Her hand reached out and yanked it down, tossing it on the passenger seat so she wouldn't have to see it. The sight of her team united, which normally gave her hope and peace, filled her with sorrow and anger.

Her hands clenched the steering wheel hard enough to make it groan with protest. She inhaled, drinking deeply of the clean air of the island.

How could Raven have done what she did? Abandoning a friend, a comrade, a boyfriend/partner that you were raising a child together with.

She didn't know. It was an action that was utterly alien in its scope. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Raven was capable of such a thing. As prickly as she could be, she still valued her team. Or at least, Summer thought she did.

Before she could reflect more on the subject, she saw she was nearing the familiar beaten path to Taiyang's home. Gravel crackled and popped as her tires churned through the dirt.

She got out and looked around briefly, catching sight of Yang…

Who was hanging from a tree limb. Upside down. Using only her feet to clamp onto the branch.

…that kid really was something else, wasn't she?

Summer walked closer, and looked up at the little climber. "What did your dad tell you about climbing in trees, Yang?" She asked, bemused at the situation.

"Ta' be careful." She said slowly, sighing as she deftly managed to swing herself up, grabbing hold of the branch with her hands so she could haul herself up and around. Now sitting on the branch, she gave Summer a contemplative look. "How's a' goin' Auntie?"

"I'm fine, sunshine. Where's your Daddy?" She asked, doing her best to not give away her distress.

Yang pointed towards the house. "Inside. He told me ta go pway outside." A troubled look passed over her face for a moment, and she finally asked the question Summer had been dreading. "Where's Mommy?"

Crap. Yang was always way smarter than was good for someone her age.

"That's what I want to talk to Daddy about. I'm going to go inside for a bit, then we'll come and get you, okay?" It was a deflection, but Summer couldn't even begin to broach that subject.

"Okay." Yang said, a bit mollified. But Summer had no doubt that the girl was putting on as much of an act as Summer was right now. Even if Yang didn't understand what, exactly, had happened, she probably could pick up the gist of it.

Gods, if Summer had Raven in front of her right now, she'd personally nail her to a tree with a few arrows from Whisper and then beat the shit out of her.

"Play safe now." She said with a lightness of tone and a smile. Yang gave her a little grin in return, and Summer made her way to the front door.

Testing the handle, she felt it give. Bracing herself for the worst, she let herself in.

Taiyang was sunk into the couch, staring off into space. As Summer came in fully and closed the door, he looked up at her. His eyes were bloodshot, puffy, and when he saw her come in, he tried to speak. "Summer, she…I jus-" and he couldn't get any farther because she walked over, hauled him to his feet, and gave him a bone crushing hug.

He caved, and started to cry into her shoulder. She could feel the dampness of his tears soaking her cloak as he sobbed, great heaves wracking his body as expressed the feeling of his heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

Summer closed her eyes, fighting back her own tears of anguish. A few trails of dampness marred her cheeks, but she ignored it.

Instead, she started to hum a nameless tune, running her hand along her teammate's back in soothing motions.

Finally, Taiyang managed to calm down, taking deep, shuddering breaths as he composed himself. He pulled away and sat back down, Summer following suit.

"Thank you." He rasped, sniffling as he wiped himself dry with the sleeve of his shirt. She gave him a wordless smile, glad if nothing else to be there for him.

They sat in silence for a while, Summer not wanting to press too hard. She knew that Taiyang would tell her what he was thinking, and she was not disappointed.

"Raven left." He began slowly, growing in intensity. "Left…this note. Said that she couldn't give Yang what she needed, that this was all pointless, and some other rambling bullshit." He plucked the letter off the table and gave it to Summer.

She read it. She was _not_ impressed.

The intensity of her anger, already uncharacteristically high, grew tenfold upon seeing for herself the depth of Raven's betrayal. It went beyond merely leaving Taiyang, although that was inexcusable. She treated her time with Team STRQ, her friends, her lover whom wanted to build a life with her, as though they were trash.

Instead of talking to them, or Taiyang, about the issues she was having…she just left. Left her boyfriend alone to raise a kid who needed all the attention she could get, and then some.

Yes, Summer was very much one to forgive. To live and let live. To build bridges, rather than burn them down.

But if she saw Raven again, forget beating sense into her. She'd _destroy_ her, and bring her broken body to Taiyang, so she could beg for forgiveness.

It was a very vengeful thought, and in the future, she would probably regret thinking it. But for the moment, Summer took comfort from the idea of revenge.

But that would have to wait. Right now, Taiyang and Yang needed her.

"It'll be alright." She finally found herself saying, causing Taiyang to look at her like she was crazy.

"Summer, I was barely able to keep someone here with Yang when Raven was here, and with your help and Qrow's. How in the hell am I going to do this and keep a damn jo- "

"I'll stay."

The words slipped out of her mouth. She had been thinking it, in the corner of her mind. But to actually come out and say it was a step into unfamiliar territory, for both of them.

Taiyang looked like a fish out of water. "You'll what?"

"I'll stay." She found herself repeating with a growing sense of certainty. "You need someone to watch Yang? I can do that."

"I can't ask you to do that." He said immediately, shaking his head. "Yang is my responsibility."  
"We _all_ found Yang that night, Taiyang." She shot back. "You might have adopted her. But don't think for a single second that I wouldn't drop everything to help take care of her."

Her sincerity rang like a bell, and it surprised even Summer with its intensity. Taiyang couldn't find fault with it, although he still looked uncomfortable in the extreme.

She reached out and placed a comforting hand on his knee. "It's not like we haven't lived together before."

He looked down at the hand, before slowly placing his own over hers. He gave it a squeeze.

"You're right." He said quietly, still looking down. "But things are different, Summer."

"Not everything. Not what matters." At that, he finally cracked a weak grin, his eyes growing misty again.

"I appreciate it." He took a deep breath afterwords, and finally made himself look at her face. "I guess I really can't stop you. You'd probably end up occupying my house if I said no anyway."

"You got that right." She gave his hand a squeeze back, and finally let go, sighing deeply. "There's going to be a lot to work out. But you'll pull through. _We'll_ pull through."

Taiyang hummed in subdued agreement before a look of pain crossed his features once more. "…I still don't know how I'm going to tell Yang. Raven is her _mother._ "

Wasn't that one of the worst things about this whole mess? Taiyang was a grown man, and while leaving him was bad enough, leaving Yang was in some ways worse, in Summer's opinion.

"We tell her a version of the truth. Raven had to go away, and Auntie Summer is going to be staying with the two of you until she gets back." That was probably the best either of them were going to come up with, and it was mostly true.

Taiyang grimaced. "I don't like the precedent that sets. Yang's intelligent enough to figure these things out, if not today then sooner, rather than later."

"If she is that intelligent, we'll just have to trust that she'll understand our reasons for trying to spare her feelings." Summer pointed out.

"When did you become the thinker of the team?" He snarked, but not unkindly.

She gave him a look of faux-offense, all while trying to stifle her giggles. "Are you suggesting I'm not known for thinking things through, Taiyang Xiao-Long?"

He gave her a meaningful look. "If you did think things through, you wouldn't be doing this."

"There's nothing to think about." To her, it was true. Whereas others might have thrown their hands up in the air and wished Taiyang the best, Summer was not that kind of person. She would throw all her energy into this, because it was nothing less than her friend deserved.

Now, Taiyang had a genuine smile on his face, the pain still there but no longer crushing him. Summer took comfort from it, because she knew that he would truly get through this, so long as he could find it in his heart to be happy.

He rose to his feet, stretching out theatrically. "Let's just take it one day at a time."

"When do you not?" She teased.

All things considered, she probably deserved the couch cushion he threw at her after that.

* * *

The next few days were hectic. Summer informed her landlord that she was moving out and started moving all her things over to Taiyang's house.

It hadn't been as bad or as awkward as she had feared, putting her things into the house and making space for herself. Raven had taken most of her things with her, and whatever Summer encountered of hers she quietly stuck in a small box and put it in the back of her new closet.

Taiyang had wisely let her do as she wished with her things, and while he never mentioned it, she thought he was secretly grateful that she moved the remains of Raven's things out of sight.

Despite the brave face he put on for everyone, he was still hurting. But it was like any wound; He might limp for a while, and he'd carry the memory with him forever, but he would heal.

Yang was much the same. She had taken to the news that Raven wasn't coming back with what at first appeared to be a naïve acceptance, but that hadn't held up. Taiyang ended up holding her as she cried, wailing for Mommy when Taiyang tried to tuck her into bed that first night.

Summer had woken up the next morning and immediately informed the Hunter Office that she was taking an extended leave of absence for the foreseeable future.

She then proceeded to do everything in her power to make sure that Yang was cared for and loved. Spoiled the hell out of her, too, but she slowly started to taper down on that as things fell into a situation that might be considered 'normal' for their family.

Taiyang was so relieved to have Summer there permanently, knowing that someone would be with her. His gratitude was humbling to her, and it almost made her uncomfortable with its sheer intensity.

But she wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world, and she genuinely found fulfillment in taking care of Yang. She had never had parents growing up herself, and although being thrust into this new role was unexpected to say the least, she couldn't say she regretted it. On the contrary, she took to it with great enthusiasm.

For a short while, things had settled into a pattern, as they all finally came to grips with their new living situation.

But then, Yang came to them both one morning when they were having coffee, and that's where things promptly went sideways again.

"Daddy." She asked, faint traces of her lisp still there, but since gone now that her new tooth had grown in at record pace. "When am I going to get a sister?"

The jet of fluid that shot out Taiyang's mouth could have probably bored through a Beowulf.

Summer, well, she could have changed her name to Winter in that moment, she went so pale and still.

After beating on his chest hard enough to rattle the furniture, Taiyang gave his daughter the most confused and terrified smile Summer had ever seen.

"I…ah…Yang, a…a sister is, well…that's uhm…not in the cards right now, kiddo." He finally managed to get out, giving Summer frantic 'bail me out' looks all the while.

All she could do was try very, _very_ hard, to keep all the blood in her body from rushing to her face.

To their immense relief and befuddlement, Yang gave him a sage nod, as though he had answered all her questions. "O-Kay." She pronounced exactly, before turning on her heel and walking out of the living room, leaving the two of them to enjoy the most awkward morning they had ever experienced since the time they walked in on Qrow changing.

It would have been an otherwise unremarkable, if intensely embarrassing moment that left both of them unable to meet each other's eyes for the rest of the day.

But only a few days later, Yang asked about it again. Taiyang had promptly sat down and tried his hardest to explain to Yang that 'Summer wasn't like Mommy' in the way she was thinking.

Yang had stuck out her tongue in intense thought before agreeing with that premise and dropped it again.

But then it came up more, and more frequently, with different variations on the question. Sometimes she would ask Taiyang, sometimes she would ask Summer, and sometimes both of them. Poor Qrow, having finally visited them after having dropped everything else to try and track down Raven, had been asked as well. He'd nearly fainted on the spot.

In hindsight, they should have suspected something of greater significance was afoot. Especially the wording of Yang's initial question. 'When', not 'if'.

Indeed, by the time it came to a head, they would be slapping themselves for not realizing sooner.

It was lunch time, almost a month and a half since Summer had moved in with them. Yang was glaring at her soup with a mighty frown for someone her age, and while it left Taiyang a bit mystified, he was also having too much fun watching her expressions.

"What's the matter, Yang?" Summer asked, eyebrow raised as she finally decided to intervene, having just finished laying out all the food for their meal.

Yang looked up at her, eyes blazing with a burning frustration that gave Summer pause. "Where is she?" Yang asked, with a pout to end all pouts.

Oh…Summer and Taiyang had talked about what to do if this came up, thankfully. Summer cleared her throat, and knelt beside Yang, so they were eye level. "Honey, we don't know where Mommy is right now, but we're looking very ha- "

"Not Mommy." Yang clarified, blinking owlishly at the clearly unexpected answer. "My sister."

Again, with the sister talk. Summer loved Yang, but damnit if that constant talk hadn't made life very uncomfortable for her and Taiyang recently.

Not because the idea was repulsive. But because more and more, she was trying to picture it in her head…and…and she was liking what she saw.

Oh. _Oh._ She did the math in her head. Two plus two still equaled four, but Summer + Taiyang was starting to sound like a sensible equation as well.

 _Well_. Wasn't _that_ a kettle of fish that she really didn't know how to handle.

But still, she had to answer Yang's question. "Honey, your Daddy needs to find someone very special to give you a sister." She tried, unaware of the peculiar look that Taiyang was giving her. "But, maybe one day, that'll happen."

"No." Yang declared firmly, thrusting an accusing finger in Summer's face. "You're hiding her."

…in strictly theoretical terms, that _would_ be correct, if Summer was pregnant. But she wasn't. She'd know. Hopefully.

Taiyang finally stepped in at Summer's clear helplessness. "Yang, that's enough. No one is hiding a sister from you. We've already talked to you about this."

"No!" Yang slammed an open hand on the table, the force of the blow snapping one of the legs of the table. The bowl of soup placed in front of her slid off, crashing to the floor. They both stared wide-eyed at Yang, completely unused to such bad behavior from her. "You're hiding her, and I want to see her!"

* * *

In the deep, dark depths of the Immaterium, a single being slept in an iron womb. Floating in the Unspace of nightmare, time was meaningless. Stasis held sway over this occupant…but not completely. For dimly, the dreamer, the yet-to-be, had a connection with something more. Something outside the realm that would have kept it blissfully asleep until the stars died.

The dreamer could feel the presence of its companion, the same one that had accompanied it on its long journey. But it was not there with it, and it hadn't been for some time.

It sometimes could feel the connection and more-so recently. Emotions and images, distant yet near flickered in its awareness, and it gazed at them with wonder. It shared this joy of discovery with the other.

But now, in the other-place, it could feel the distress of their missing companion. It did not like that feeling.

The Immaterium reacted to the will of the dreamer. In an act of primordial, untainted submission, it granted the wish of the occupant of the pod.

Like a rock hitting water, reality rippled high above Remnant.

The dreamer rejoined realspace for the first time in ten thousand years.

Much like the one that came before it, the pod began its descent towards the planet. Only this time, it was not random chance that guided the pod. This time, the dreamer directed it, with its first word echoing in its mind.

'Sister'

* * *

Yang was inconsolable, and neither Summer nor Taiyang were able to reason with her. It was very hard to deal with a screaming child at the best of times, much less one who was capable of damaging furniture in her flailing.

Taiyang had picked her up at this point, restraining her in a bear hug and was trying to keep her from hurting herself, or causing any more damage.

Summer had already cleaned up the mess on the floor, and was right there with Taiyang, trying to soothe Yang.

But just as quickly as her fit happened, it started to die down. Yang was still trying to squirm in her father's grasp, but it was instead to try and look at something up on the ceiling.

"She's here, she's here!" Yang chirped in a bout of glee that left the two parents to look at each other with confusion.

Summer was about to ask her what she was talking about, before something clicked in the back of her mind.

"Taiyang…let's say, against all logic, Yang _does_ have a sister." Summer began, dreadful comprehension dawning on her. "Where would she be?"

A pause, even as Yang continued to squirm in a vain attempt to escape Taiyang's grip.

Summer and Taiyang made for the door, nearly bumping into each other in their mad scramble to get outside.

Yang giggled as she was jostled, her antagonism giving way to a bubbly happiness as she was carried. She tilted her head skyward and pointed her finger up at the distant heavens. "There she is!" She practically sang.

It took a moment of searching, but then they saw it in the clear blue sky. A distant fireball, flying through the air like a bolt of pure sunlight.

It was the arrival of another gestation pod. And somehow, _Yang knew about it_.

That defied belief, to put it mildly. But the proof was shrieking towards the ground in a chorus of pure, unadulterated _noise_.

Summer regained her wits first, trying to figure out where the pod was falling. "Taiyang, we need to move. Get your scroll, call Ozpin and Qrow."

Taiyang was too busy staring dumbfoundedly at the meteor. Yang took the opportunity to escape from his grasp, laughing like an imp the whole time.

"She's here! And, and she's gonna fall over… there!" Yang said, pointing in a distant direction. Where Yang had fallen behind the house, this was falling to the right side, closer to the shore.

Summer didn't quite know if Yang was speaking just from looking at the object, or if that unnatural knowledge of hers was somehow guiding her. It could be either, knowing Yang's intelligence.

Still, they had to do something. Taiyang made an executive decision, scooping up Yang once more. "We're going to go after that pod. I'm going to carry you, and you are going to be on your best behavior. Am I clear?" He said as sternly as he possibly could.

Yang nodded and hummed in approval. With that, they took off running after the pod. Thankfully the tree line was much thinner, and the pod was falling at a steeper angle.

They had only been running for about a few minutes before it finally roared over their heads, pulping the unfortunate trees in its wake.

The shielded themselves from the splinters that rained down on them and couldn't help but flinch at the earth-shaking sound of the impact.

When they finally turned around to look, they could see a small clearing where the pod knocked down all the trees. Thankfully, unlike last time, very few had caught fire. It allowed them to pick their way easily through the debris.

This time, the pod hadn't dug as far into the ground, despite the steeper angle of descent. The force of the blow had compacted much of the earth around it, and Patch's rocky layer of soil meant there was little soft material to plow through.

It had landed more or less upright, allowing Summer to notice that it was exactly the same as Yang's pod. The only difference was the marking on the pod, this time two parallel bars.

"II"

"Woah…" Yang said first, looking at the pod in awe. Summer couldn't help but privately agree with the sentiment. It was a rather cool sight.

"My sister's a robot." The blonde finished in a stage whisper.

…All things considered, Summer could see how Yang thought that.

"No sweetheart." She corrected. "There's a baby in there."

"Really?" Yang said skeptically, turning a critical eye on the pod. "Are you -sure- she's not a robot?"

"She's right." Taiyang chimed in, slowly setting Yang back down on the ground. "You came in one of those, too."

"Is that where all babies come from? The sky?" She said, eyes going wide at the idea.

"No, you're just very special." Taiyang corrected, playfully mussing her hair, making Yang squeal and dash away.

As heartwarming as the sight was, Summer still knew reality was going to swiftly going to come storming in. "Tai. We're going to have to do all that crap again."

He froze, before slapping himself in the face. "Polendina is never going to leave us alone now." He groaned. Shaking himself out of it, he looked at her. "Fine, but he's coming to Patch this time."

"I think he'd go to the bottom of the ocean if you told him to." She mused, causing him to laugh.

"Are you two gonna open it, or what?" Yang asked impatiently, gesturing with both arms to the pod.

"She does have a point…" Taiyang mused, looking to the pod before glancing at Summer. "You want to do the honors this time?"

It was a big thing to be asked, but at the same time, Summer couldn't help but feel a little trepidation. Even though the pod was already here…actually opening would probably all but ensure a new kid in their lives. It was a gut feeling she had, and like most of her feelings, she had long since learned to follow it.

"Alright." She said finally. Picking up a branch off the ground, she walked over to the pod, and used it to press the release button.

With the same anticlimactic venting of air, the device whirred as it unsealed the occupant from stasis, before unlocking.

When it opened, Summer stepped forward to pluck the child from its seat, once the devices hooking up the baby to the machine undid themselves.

Unlike Yang, this baby was a little bit chubby, with a stock of brunette hair. Also, unlike Yang, she was already wide awake, with brown eyes looking every which way.

…she was also drooling. All over Summer's cloak.

Amused, and yet silently lamenting the fact she was going to have to change now, she cradled the baby and looked down at her. "So…you're Yang's sister, huh?"

She didn't answer, naturally, although at this point Summer wouldn't have been surprised at that.

What did surprise her though, was the way the little child met her eyes. There was an intelligence there that a child simply should not have, even greater than the awareness Yang had been 'born' with.

The little one gurgled happily, with a gummy smile on her face as she looked at Summer.

Then her hair changed color. From the tips up, Summer's distinctive red dyed the child's own nascent hairs. If that wasn't enough, her eyes changed radically as well, morphing into a silvery hue that was a mirror of her own.

It took everything she had to not drop the baby in sheer shock.

Yang came forth before she could even say anything, the two adults standing there dumbly, unable to believe their eyes. "She likes you." She said simply, reaching up to poke the baby on its nose. She shrieked in shock, which turned to happy sounds as the curious child looked every which way for that offending hand.

"Well…guess Ozpin was onto something about magic, huh?" Taiyang finally said, getting over it with the resigned acceptance of someone who had grown used to the hurricane of nonsense life threw his way.

"Looks like it." Summer found herself numbly saying, unable to take her eyes off the baby. The same baby that had very, very clearly recognized Summer as…well, as her mother. There was no other possible conclusion to draw.

It was an instinctual reaction from the little girl, and yet it meant the world to her. It was a sign, a placing of trust in the one to pull her from the capsule and into the world, in lieu of a biological parent.

Summer's heart swelled with…something. Call it maternal instinct, or whatever, but it was a mix of emotions that made her head spin.

Was this what Taiyang had felt, upon first holding Yang? No wonder he hadn't thought twice about becoming a parent. How could anyone deny this sheer, all-consuming love?

All at once, Summer no longer hated Raven. Instead, she only felt pity, for Summer could not imagine giving up such joy.

"Hi there." Summer cooed, looking down at the baby, no, _her_ baby.

Taiyang came up close to her, standing at her side as he peered at the adorable child. "Seems like you know what it feels like to have a kid fall from the sky." He joked, his face radiating the same kind of joy Summer felt in her heart. "What are you going to name her?"

Summer considered it, even as the baby tried to reach up to tug on Summer's long bangs. "I don't know." She said thoughtfully, dipping her head so the baby could get a grip on it. "What _am_ I going to call you, my little gem?"

Like a bolt of lightning, it hit her. "How about Ruby?" When the words left her mouth, she knew it was right. It rang like a bell, and the feeling made her shiver for a moment. "Ruby Rose." She finished.

"Rolls off the tongue." Taiyang mused, reaching down to tickle the latest member of their family. "Is your name Ru-by?" He said, watching as the new child reacted with enthusiastic wiggling.

"I knew she was here." Yang said triumphantly, looking extraordinarily pleased with herself even as she stared at her sister.

"Yes, you did." Summer said thoughtfully, appraising her thoughtfully. This whole day had been another one filled with twists and turns, half of which they still didn't have answers for.

Oh, _damn_. She knew exactly what had to happen to start getting those answers, and she was already dreading it.

Polendina and Ozpin were going to be _insufferable._

* * *

AN: I live! I know, it's been a while since the last update.

I hit a massive writer's block towards the start of the chapter, and I simply couldn't push myself to break through it. Thankfully, chipping away at it day by day finally got me over the hump. The vast majority of this was written in the past two days, probably about 4-5k words in total out of the whopping 7k this weighs.

I know, I know, many of you are impatient to see the girls grow up. Well, we're getting there! The pace will pick up dramatically, and I expect that the two will be going to Beacon within the next two, to three at most, chapters.

Some of you might be wondering why I'm dealing so much with Team STRQ. The answer is because it would be unrealistic not to do so. I'm attempting to convey what I think would be their genuine reactions to these circumstances. Even then, this chapter took so long because I'm not convinced I did the best job.

But ultimately, I think I've done the best job I could have without adding even more extensive elaboration. So, take this chapter as you will, and know that now we're heading back on track.

The next chapter should hopefully take less time to do, but I am committed to producing a chapter of Greek Tragedy before I update Highest is Heaven again. So that might push it back a bit.

Thanks for reading!


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